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DIAMONDS
24
MODERN MINING
March 2015
E
xplaining the history of Stellar,
Smithson says it was formed in
2007 as a spin-off of Mano River
Resources, a company originally
founded in the 1990s by well-
known resources entrepreneur Guy Pas (who
was, incidentally, also a co-founder of Samax
Resources, which did much of the early devel-
opment work on the Geita gold project in Tan-
zania). Mano River itself merged with African
Aura Resources in 2009. The latter has since
morphed into Aureus Mining which is devel-
oping the New Liberty gold mine in Liberia.
Smithson joined Mano River in 2000 and in
his first few years with the company was instru-
mental in building up the portfolio of diamond
assets which allowed Stellar to be established
as a standalone venture in 2007 and to list on
AIM in 2010. He has managed Stellar as CEO
since its inception and has, over the years,
successfully raised over £15 million in equity
for the company. He also transformed Stellar
from a pure exploration company into a junior
miner/explorer. The company mined 128 000
carats from the alluvial Mandala deposit in
south-east Guinea between 2009 and 2011 and
plant and equipment used on this project has
now been deployed at Baoulé.
Although he is based in the UK, Smithson –
who is a geologist – spends much of his time in
West Africa. He is also no stranger to Southern
Africa. Earlier in his career, he spent 10 years
with De Beers in Botswana and Zimbabwe and
in fact was De Beers’ Exploration Manager in
Zimbabwe. In between leaving De Beers and
joining Mano River, he also spent a couple of
Stellar poised to emerge
as a
Trial mining underway at
Baoulé in November 2014.
The project is located in the
Aredor diamond district
of Guinea.
Karl Smithson, Chief
Executive Officer of
Stellar Diamonds.
Stellar Diamonds plc, a junior diamond mining company whose shares are
quoted on London’s AIM, seems to be heading for mid-tier status, with an
ambitious trial mining exercise underway at its Baoulé open-pit kimberlite
project in Guinea and the development of a fissure mine – the Tongo Dyke-1
project – in Sierra Leone imminent.
Modern Mining’s
Arthur Tassell recently
caught up with Stellar’s CEO, Karl Smithson, at the Mining Indaba in Cape
Town to learn more about the projects.